Kamala Harris: Hamas committed horrific acts of sexual violence on Oct. 7
www.haaretz.com
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U.S. Vice President’s remarks come amid allegations from Israel’s critics that claims of sexual and gender-based violence were either fabricated or exaggerated in order to provide justification for its military response in Gaza

Speaking at an event dedicated to raising awareness on conflict-related sexual violence, including the airing of Sheryl Sandberg’s “Screams Before Silence” documentary, “On October 7, Hamas committed horrific acts of sexual violence,” Harris said.

Her remarks come amid steady criticism from Israel’s critics on the left that claims of sexual and gender-based violence were either fabricated or exaggerated in order to provide justification for its military response in Gaza following October 7.

“In the days after October 7, I saw images of bloodied Israeli women abducted,” she continued. “Hamas committed rape and gang rape at the Nova music festival, and women’s bodies were found naked from the waist down, hands tied behind their back and shot in the head.”

  • mozz@mbin.grits.dev
    61·
    5 months ago

    Got it. So it makes sense now – reading it now it looks there were two reports, one with a general overview of war crimes of all types committed by all sides during the conflict, and one much more in depth with a particular focus on sexual violence committed by Hamas. And, of course, there’s not any contradiction between the two or sense in which the one that’s an overview invalidates the one that’s more specific and detailed. E.g. the overview one says among other things (placed in among of course an absolutely massive list of crimes by Israel):

    V. Legal Analysis

    1. The Commission found that acts of sexual violence were committed on 7 October in Israel, including at the Nova festival, on road 232, at Nahal Oz military base and kibbutzim Re’im, Nir Oz and Kfar Aza.

    VI. Conclusions

    1. The Commission identified patterns indicative of sexual violence in several locations and concludes that Israeli women were disproportionally subjected to these crimes. The attack on 7 October enabled perpetrators to commit SGBV and this violence was not isolated but perpetrated in similar ways in several locations and by multiple Palestinian perpetrators. The Commission did not find credible evidence, however, that militants received orders to commit sexual violence and so it was unable to make conclusions on this issue. However, inflammatory language and disbelief around sexual violence, observed with both parties, risks silencing and discrediting survivors, further exacerbating trauma and stigmatization.

    … which agrees in literally every particular with the Patten report, including the conclusions it reached and which conclusions it didn’t reach (or stopped short of or said it wasn’t attempting to analyze.)

    I mean, I wasn’t really in any doubt that what Linkerbaan was saying was a bunch of made up crap, but I am glad to be able to understand the context of the two reports and what actually happened.